JERUSALEM, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Israeli foreign exchange reserves stood at record 111.31 billion U.S. dollars at the end of October 2017, an increase of 258 million dollars from the level at the end of the previous month, a report issued by the Bank of Israel on Tuesday said.
The reserves represented 33.4 percent of Israeli GDP.
According to the Bank of Israel, the increase was the result of foreign currency purchases by the bank totaling 260 million dollars, all of which were purchased as part of the purchase program intended to offset the effects of natural gas production on the exchange rate.
The other important factor for the increase was the government transfers from abroad totaling about 42 million dollars.
Israel's foreign exchange reserves have risen from 97.96 billion dollars to 111.31 billion dollars over the past 12 months.
